The Perth Mint was founded in 1899, making it older than the Federation of Australia itself. Significantly older than the Royal Australian Mint which opened in 1965 to mint circulation coinage, the Perth Mint is the official bullion mint of Australia.
Miners from all over Australia once flocked to the mint to have their raw metals turned into coins. In its first 32 years, the Perth Mint struck over 100 million gold sovereigns for Britain and the Commonwealth, stopping in 1931 when Britain abandoned the gold standard.
The Perth Mint today
Today, the mint is famous for its stunning and highly secure precious metals. It exports $18 billion AUD of precious metals to over 100 countries every year. Perth Mint is an accredited refiner on the industry-leading Good Delivery List, a major seal of approval in the bullion world.
Over 400 people are currently employed at the Perth Mint, and the Perth minting facility is a popular destination for tourists throughout the year.
The Perth Mint and silver
The Perth Mint produces many different silver products, including:
- Silver bars
- Bullion coins
- Commemorative coins and medallions
The Perth Mint’s most popular piece of silver bullion is the 1 oz silver kangaroo coin. This coin features a right-facing profile of Queen Elizabeth II by Jody Clarke showing the Queen in her later years. Unlike most of the world’s 0.999 fine silver bullion coins, the silver kangaroo is struck in “four-nine” silver, 0.9999 or 99.99% fine silver. The 1 oz kangaroo was the first silver coin of that purity produced by the Perth Mint.
The silver kangaroo coins have a face value of $1 AUD, although the true value is much higher. Each comes with a micro-engraved letter A on the reverse side to prevent counterfeiting. Of course, the reverse also features Stuart Devlin’s famous red kangaroo design in stunning detail! These high-quality coins are an investor favorite around the world.
The silver bottlenose dolphin coin is one of the more interesting bullion coins produced by the Perth Mint. Like the silver kangaroo, the silver bottlenose dolphin coin is struck in 0.9999 fine silver. Two bottlenose dolphins are shown on the front, leaping from the water to form a heart shape.
The mint also produces silver bullion bars such as the 1 kg cast silver bar in 0.999 fine silver. The surface has a matte finish with the Perth Mint logo stamped clearly on the obverse side with the weight and purity information shown below.
The Perth Mint also has a fun side to it, producing many commemorative coins and medallions referencing popular culture. The Faces of the Empire 2021 Imperial Stormtrooper coin is a 1 oz silver coin created in the shape of a Stormtrooper from the Star Wars franchise, a unique design struck in 99.9% pure silver. These coins have a limited mintage of just 10,000. And, for the international super-spy who has everything, the Perth Mint created a silver 007 coin for the nation of Tuvalu.
The mint has struck other coins from the Star Wars franchise along with silver coins and badges referencing video games and movies.
Perth Mint Lunar Series
The Lunar Series released by the mint was created as an homage to the Chinese Lunar Calendar and its celebrations of different animal signs from the Chinese zodiac.
Now in its third year, the Lunar Series will be starting 2022 with its Lunar Series III Tiger 1 oz silver proof coin and the huge 1 kg silver Lunar Year of the Tiger coin. These coins would appeal especially to anyone born under the sign of the tiger in the Chinese zodiac, namely those born in 2022, 2010, 1998, every 12th preceding year. Those born under the sign of the tiger are said to be both courageous and charming.
